Drive letters mixed up
Pat Glenn
mixed up My hard drive (which should be 'c') is labelled I while USB drives
are lettered C, F, G, and H and CDROM's are D and E. Basically, all I need
to do is exchange drive C and I.
The hardware recognizes the hard drive as being C. If you go to repair mode,
everything appears to be the C drive. The problem is in windows itself. The
windows interface has mapped EVERYTHING as being the I drive! Why would it
do this? The USB drives are in a card reader!!!
Is there a tool in XP to correct this situation? I have a couple of older
programs that must be installed onto drice C or they will not work.
Is it possible to delete an install of XP and return a drive to its 'virgin
state'? I'd like to attempt a reinstall without the card reader in place.
Bruce Coryell
on the desktop, right-click on the "My Computer" icon. Click on
"manage", then "disk management". You will see a graphical display of
all your disks. Right click on the individual disks, and you will see
an option to "change drive letters and paths". You're on your own after
this - be careful!
Pat Glenn
(that I know of) to change the path of DLL's that are in use - even in the
registry editor.
Do you know of a way to remove the system from the HD? I'd like to try a
re-install on a 'virgin' drive.
"Bruce Coryell" <bcor...@chesco.com> wrote in message
news:47ba4426$0$21774$1e6...@news.chesco.com...
chrisv
> Already tried that. It will not change it's own path. Also, there's
> no way (that I know of) to change the path of DLL's that are in use -
> even in the registry editor.
>
> Do you know of a way to remove the system from the HD? I'd like to
> try a re-install on a 'virgin' drive.
Check the other group you posted this to.
Jerry
news:47ba4426$0$21774$1e6...@news.chesco.com...
You cannot change the drive letter of the XP boot drive.
Pat Glenn
Obviously something went terribly wrong with the install. I'd try again, but
the current OS can't be gotten rid of. At least not by any methods I'm
familiar with. Gone are the days of DOS when you could simply tell the hard
drive to reformat over itself and commit "hari kari"!!
I suspect the problem is in the registry as when you go to repair install
mode, the drive actually comes up as being the C drive. It's just when the
system boots up that the switch is made. and it's made to everything on the
system. Every DLL, every exe, every ini - everything is remapped. I'd like
to figure out how it is possible for the install to make such an error.
That's what gets me...
"Jerry" <He...@spam.com> wrote in message
news:47ba64f4$0$16665$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
JG
from "Pat Glenn"
> Thanks - I've already figured that one out. Got a workable solution?
> Obviously something went terribly wrong with the install. I'd try
> again, but
> the current OS can't be gotten rid of. At least not by any methods I'm
> familiar with. Gone are the days of DOS when you could simply tell the hard
> drive to reformat over itself and commit "hari kari"!!
> I suspect the problem is in the registry as when you go to repair install
> mode, the drive actually comes up as being the C drive. It's just when the
> system boots up that the switch is made. and it's made to everything on the
> system. Every DLL, every exe, every ini - everything is remapped. I'd like
> to figure out how it is possible for the install to make such an error.
> That's what gets me...
The prolem (as you have surmised) is that the Card Reader was 'live'
when you installed the O/s. There is a way to make a new install cause
the drive to comit 'Hari Kari' though - and it is simple enough, you
just have to make sure that you actually read all the messages windows
puts up at the start of the installation routine.
First disconnect the Card Reader - just pull the plug off the
motherboard - then make sure the 'first boot device' is the CD/DVD
drive.
Start up with the Windows installation disc in the CD and watch for
'Boot from CD' and 'Press any key to boot frm CD'. Once that appears
press the space bar.
When the licence agreement appears press F8.
Now read every message carefully and follow the instructions 'to the
letter' - I can't give you specific details because I don't have a
PC on my workbench at the moment but it will involve pressing [C] - [F]
- [L] - [esc] and [Enter].
You can also determine the size of your Drive C partition and whether it
is formatted as Fat 32 or NTFS but if you do read each message carefull
you will see that.
JG
chrisv
> Thanks - I've already figured that one out. Got a workable solution?
>
> Obviously something went terribly wrong with the install. I'd try
> again, but the current OS can't be gotten rid of. At least not by any
> methods I'm familiar with. Gone are the days of DOS when you could
> simply tell the hard drive to reformat over itself and commit "hari
> kari"!!
You were trying to use DOS fdisk command, weren't you? DOS is dead! If you
boot from the CD and enter the Recovery Console, or from the XP Setup floppy
set, use the "diskpart.exe" command. Likewise, you can use the Format
command when you have booted as described above.
Pat Glenn
me when I explained the situation was "Do you have a card reader?"
He then went on to explain that this happens quite frequently and it
apparently is not a flawed install. (get out the shovels...) This is a new
"enhanced feature" of the XP operating system and it has to do with XP's
ability to be installed on any drive in the system. What happens is that XP
polls all the removable devices in the system first and then places fixed
drives at the end. It does this by default. For some unexplained reason this
doesn't affect CDROM drives (even though they are removable media) as it
still places them after the hard disks. This only affects newer devices like
USB ports, card readers and removable SATA drives.
SO: Lesson learned. If you have removable media DO NOT have the hardware
installed when you do a system install. Unless, of course, you want to take
a chance as to what drive your OS runs from. Not that it really makes a
difference. The OS is just as capable of running from drive Z as from C. It
just might take a little getting used to the new arrangement.
There is only one resolution for this dilemma. Run the install to the point
where it formats the hard drive and then push the 'wipe out' button to reset
the partition. And then continue with re-installation.
"chrisv" <chr...@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:02062904$0$12860$c3e...@news.astraweb.com...
Bernard Curry
<pgl...@telus.net> wrote:
You can change the drive letters. Go: control panel >
Administrative tools > Computer Management (Local) > Storage
> Disk Management
Right click on any disk in the diagram. go: Change drive
letters and paths. (I don't know about the paths.) Change
the letters starting with the last one in your list or in
the alphabet. I use V & W for my CD and DVD drives to keep
them out of the way.
Start with the last drive in your list and change it to the
last letter you want to use. Work backwards with the
alphabet and change the letters.
Easier is to use Partition magic (or take the trouble to
learn how to keep the paths). PM has a "Drive Mapper"
function that will keep your registry paths correct if you
use it correctly.
Most of the difficulty in the above is learning how. So if
you don't want to learn, take it to a shop.
Bernard Curry
relic
> On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:56:09 GMT, "Pat Glenn"
> <pgl...@telus.net> wrote:
>
> You can change the drive letters. Go: control panel >
> Administrative tools > Computer Management (Local) > Storage
>> Disk Management
OP:
"My hard drive (which should be 'c') is labelled I..."
C and I can't be changed in Disk Management. The one he most wants to change
is "I".
ZÿRiX
How to restore the system/boot drive letter in Windows
SUMMARY
Warning Do not use the procedure that is described in this article to change
a drive on a computer where the drive letter has not changed. If you do so,
you may not be able to start your operating system. Follow the procedure
that is described in this article only to recover from a drive letter
change, not to change an existing computer drive to something else. Back up
your registry keys before you make this change.
For more information, click the following article number to view the article
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
249321 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249321/) Unable to log on if the
boot partition drive letter has changed
This article describes how to change the system or boot drive letter in
Windows. For the most part, this is not recommended, especially if the drive
letter is the same as when Windows was installed. The only time that you may
want to do this is when the drive letters get changed without any user
intervention. This may happen when you break a mirror volume or there is a
drive configuration change. This should be a rare occurrence and you should
change the drive letters back to match the initial installation.
To change or swap drive letters on volumes that cannot otherwise be changed
using the Disk Management snap-in, use the following steps.
Note In these steps, drive D refers to the (wrong) drive letter assigned to
a volume, and drive C refers to the (new) drive letter you want to change
to, or to assign to the volume.
This procedure swaps drive letters for drives C and D. If you do not need to
swap drive letters, simply name the \DosDevice\letter: value to any new
drive letter not in use.
Change the System/Boot Drive Letter
Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to
modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the
registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps
carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it.
Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information
about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article
number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/) How to back up and restore
the registry in Windows
1. Make a full system backup of the computer and system state.
2. Log on as an Administrator.
3. Start Regedt32.exe.
4. Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
5. Click MountedDevices.
6. On the Security menu, click Permissions.
7. Verify that Administrators have full control. Change this back when
you are finished with these steps.
8. Quit Regedt32.exe, and then start Regedit.exe.
9. Locate the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
10. Find the drive letter you want to change to (new). Look for
"\DosDevices\C:".
11. Right-click \DosDevices\C:, and then click Rename.
Note You must use Regedit instead of Regedt32 to rename this registry
key.
12. Rename it to an unused drive letter "\DosDevices\Z:".
This frees up drive letter C.
13. Find the drive letter you want changed. Look for "\DosDevices\D:".
14. Right-click \DosDevices\D:, and then click Rename.
15. Rename it to the appropriate (new) drive letter "\DosDevices\C:".
16. Click the value for \DosDevices\Z:, click Rename, and then name it
back to "\DosDevices\D:".
17. Quit Regedit, and then start Regedt32.
18. Change the permissions back to the previous setting for
Administrators (this should probably be Read Only).
19. Restart the computer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPLIES TO
. Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
. Microsoft Windows XP Professional
. Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
. Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
. Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
. Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
. Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 64-Bit Datacenter Edition
. Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition
. Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
. Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
. Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
. Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
P.S. also
Partition Magic 8.0 to change drive letter. (Chances are, system will not
boot completly into Windows after this. So may need to backup data). Run a
windows repair installation to get system booting into Windows again.
--
ZRiX
(畔'..(<>..<>)..'敞)
relic
> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;223188
> How to restore the system/boot drive letter in Windows
> SUMMARY
> *Warning Do not use the procedure that is described in this article to
> change a drive on a computer where the drive letter has not changed.*
His drive letter did not suddenly change on him. His installation installed
the OS on drive "I".
Go hide your head in the sand.